News, observations and reader questions about the Oakland Raiders

January 4, 2010

The players that were milling about the Raiders locker room on Monday most definitely had Tom Cable's back. A sampling of their responses.

QB Bruce Gradkowski, on if Cable deserves another year: "I definitely think Tom deserves another year. Coach Cable has done a great job this year. To be a head coach and come in this league and only get one year and one shot, it's tough. The good football teams in this league, their coaches have been there for a while with the same players and got to work together. It's not only hard on the coaching staff but it's hard on the players to continually learn new systems, have new coaches. If we come back with the same coaches, we'll have the same systems, guys will be more comfortable going into next season, so it's all about consistency. That's one thing we'll focus on this offseason, is being more consistent next year. I'm very positive about that going into the offseason, and it makes me excited."

LG Robert Gallery, on if Cable deserves another year: "Definitely. I think you ask anybody in this locker room that really cares about the right things, they all want him back. We'll see what happens, it's not our decision, but we definitely want him back because he's getting this thing going the right way."

Gallery, on if Cable changed the culture: "Definitely. I think everybody that matters is pulling for him and believes in him and what he's doing and that's what we need around here. Obviously there's changes that need to be made, and we hope he's here and he makes those changes."

Gallery, on fans thinking 'players always say that': "I think you know when people are giving the company line and I think you know when people are serious and say it from the heart and I think guys truly believe in him. I do. I know the majority of the guys in here, the guys that matter, want him back and know he's trying to do the right thing."

Gallery, on if any players will go to Al Davis to plead Cable's case: "You know, that's up to him. I don't know, I can speak for myself, I don't know if other guys have talked to him. I haven't talked to him, but I think he knows how we feel. But he's the owner, he'll make the decision and that's kind of the deal, but I'm pretty sure he knows how we feel about it."

Gallery, on what Cable has done for his career: "He's really got it...to where I want it to be. Besides the injuries this year, last year and this year, got back to playing a the caliber that I wanted to be and it was kind of short-lived this year, but you know, he made it fun again and got me back to the way I was in college."

Gallery, on the setback it would be to start over with another coach: "Yeah, it's not easy, just personally I don't think that's how you get to build a winning program. You can't have a new guy every year. You've got to get familiar with a guy and know what's going on, and I think we have that right now. We'll see what happens. I'm going on as though he's going to be the head coach until I hear differently."

TE Zach Miller on if Cable deserves to be back: "I think he does. I think most guys on the team really like him as a coach. I've only heard rumors. I don't want to speculate."

Miller, on if Cable has changed the culture in the locker room: "I think so. I think guys play hard for him. All year I think guys kind of rallied around him and played hard for him and put all our effort on the field for him. I think that's something that's good."

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About Raiders Blog and Q&A

Matt Kawahara was born in Sacramento and attended McClatchy High School and UC Berkeley, where he wrote for the independent student paper The Daily Californian. He graduated from Cal in 2010 and started at The Sacramento Bee as a summer intern. He joined The Bee's sports staff in fall 2011.